Alexandra Feodorovna (Aldís II of Irene)

Alexandra Feodorovna (Russian: Алекса́ндра Фёдоровна, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandrə ˈfjɵdərəvnə]), born Princess Aldís of Irene (13 July 1798 – 1 November 1860), was a Grand Duchess of Russia as the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir (r. 1826–1945).

Aldís was the eldest surviving daughter of Emperor Bjørn II of Irene (r. 1797–1840) and Empress Katherine II of Irene. Her childhood was marked by the Napoleonic wars and by the death (1810) of her father who had been poisoned by her mother when she was just twelve years old.

In 1814 the Russian imperial family arranged her family – to strength the ties between Russia and Irene – with Grand Duke Vladimir, the younger brother of Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich of Russia (the future Emperor Nicholas I). The couple married on 1 July 1817. Upon her marriage, Alexandra converted to Russian Orthodoxy, and took the Russian name Alexandra Feodorovna. Her marriage to her husband was extremely unhappy as the couple constantly argued with each other, she often confided in Princess Charlotte about her unhappy marriage; eventually the Irene Empire would annul the marriage, after seeing how unhappy their Empress was. Their daughters and almost all of their sons (except for Grand Duke Timur of Russia) would leave Russia and rejoin their mother in the Irene Empire; the now much-happier children would rejoice in the new freedom that they had gained from leaving Russia and their abusive father.

Charlotte though saddened to see Aldís leave, understood the views of her former sister-in-law, seeing her husband as "an oppressive man, with a lust for my most dearest sister-in-law. A man who is abusive in every sense of the world." To have something to remember Charlotte by, Aldís gave her youngest daughter (Grand Duchess Mila), the middle name of Charlotte to honor her former sister-in-law, and as a sign of courage against adversity. Her mental health greatly improved away from the prying eyes of her former husband, with him later passing away several months later due to being poisoned by Aldís with a toxic dose of mercury found in his bloodstream by Russian Imperial Doctors after his death. His death caused much controversy in the Russian imperial family, as her youngest son (Grand Duke Timur of Russia) was set to inherit his father`s position despite all of his older brothers being alive; in the end, her youngest son succeeded her abusive husband.

Princess of Irene
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was born as Princess Aldís Gunther Charlotte Black Maria Grace of Irene, at the Charlotte Palace in Alexandra Selot on 13 July [O.S. 1 July] 1798. She was the eldest surviving daughter of Bjørn II, Emperor consort of Irene, and Katherine II, High Empress of Irene, and a sister of Borghilda III, Benedikte IV, and Agmund II of Irene. She was known as Aldís, a name popular among the Norwegian public and the Irene imperial family, and nicknamed Black Maria by her family.

The princess`s childhood was marked by the Napoleonic wars and she was raised underneath the banner of war, as well as the country being burdened by requests from aid from every single warring Empire out there. Her father was a ruthless and much-hated tyrant but a weak and indecisive ruler who, following military defeats in 1806 was waylaid by his fuming wife and sentenced to several years in prison for going against the orders of her mother. In the earlier years of her life, the Princess as the eldest child of her parents, the Emperor and Empress of Irene, accompanied them on many of their official duties, and functions as she was one-day to be crowned Empress of Irene. Her father attempted to poison her at age eight, she noticed the poison in her food, and fed it to her father who survived by the skin of his teeth; this echoed a turning point in her life. Her mother discovered her father, barely alive and she received a lecture for her actions, in doing so she had unwittingly saved her mother and countless others from the tyrannical reign of her mother; to ensure that her father would die and leave her mother alone, the Princess increased the dosage amount and he eventually died in 1810. Her mother had stepped down as Empress several years prior in 1796.

Empress of Irene
Alexandra was officially crowned High Empress of Irene on 1 December 1825, making her the youngest reigning female monarch at the time (she was only 27 at the time of her ascension), compared to some of the much older monarchs, she was fairly young; in some cases, she was even compared to a just-born chicken when it came to understanding politics in her country. Nevertheless, her charisma and dry humor helped to keep many of the more "violent" members of her court underneath control, however her lack of a husband was often made a point of mockery in other European courts; in the end she became engaged the youngest son of a Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Russia, Vladimir, considered to be a wonderful choice of the twenty-seven-year-old Empress. In October 1816, the two were already engaged, with news of their engagement sweeping throughout the Princess`s native homeland of Irene, and her husband`s native Russia. On 9 June 1817 Princess Aldís came to Russia with her younger sisters. After arriving in St. Petersburg she converted to Russian Orthodoxy, and took the Russian name "Alexandra Feodorovna". On her nineteenth birthday, 13 July [O.S. 1 July] 1817, she and Vladimir were married in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace. "This marriage is simply for convenience, for the whims of a man who would have me bow before him like a common whore," she would later write about her wedding. "I would never willingly give myself up to a man, unless Irene`s future depended on it. I shall have to nip the urge to poison this vile man, for I don`t wish to lose the support of Russia."

Grand Duchess
At first, Alexandra Feodorovna had problems adapting to the Russian court, she was far more blood-thirsty than her new in-laws, and had a fierce temperament that didn`t mesh well with the Russian nobility; Charlotte would later remark that "she was fierce, her eyes blazing with an inner fire, fierce and unyielding much like her." She gained the favor of her mother-in-law, Maria Feodorovna, but did not get along well with the Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna, consort of her brother-in-law, citing her as a "dreadful woman", in contrast she deeply enjoyed Charlotte`s company and enjoyed discussing different types of cookies, and other topics with her. Much like the rest of her Romanov relations, Alexandra was cold-hearted to the bone, extremely shrewd and highly-prone to projecting her cold, steely anger outwards; these traits and various others helped her adapt to the Russian court. Despite her first impressions, Alexandra was extremely humble, a powerful warrior, and extremely stubborn.

Personality
Alexandra was short, thin almost to the point of resembling a match-stick, had a small head, and a scowl usually plastered onto her face. Her quick, light walk possessed great regality, grace, and poise. She was healthy, often attending functions in the place of Charlotte as the other female royal was often sick and in ill health. Her voice was soft, and silky-smooth, with a hard, steely undertone that showed off her great power. Alexandra Feodorovna was an avid reader, enjoyed music, and often sang for Charlotte when she was too ill to get out of bed; she was also athletic, prideful, haughty, and talented in swordsmanship as the Empress of Irene was expected to be. A politically-savvy woman, she was capable of manipulating the situation to get the outcome she wanted without much trouble.